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It's time for some high-stakes acrobatics in the Indonesian jungle. Gliding tree snakes know how to get the jump on a quick meal. But to catch this flying dragon, the snake will need to be quick indeed.
National Geographic visits unearthed Roman theaters, medieval streets, and secret tunnels, bringing new light to Florence's lesser-known, dark history. Art detective and National Geographic Fellow Maurizio Seracini reveals history using a thermocamera to reveal long-lost architectural layers in some of the city's most famous landmarks.
AKA Florence Unlocked
From the earliest days of Amazonian exploration, stories filtered back about the terrifying ritual practised by the region's headshrinkers who would shrink an enemy's head to render the vengeful soul powerless. Including rare footage of a reputed real-life ceremony from the 1960s, this documentary probes whether the film is genuine, if this shocking practice still takes place today, and how such a horrific custom evolved among these remote jungle inhabitants. British writer and adventurer Piers Gibbon is determined to find out, as he heads deep into the rainforest to meet the tribes whose superstitions and desire for revenge led to the legend of the headshrinkers. And in the heart of the jungle Piers discovers why it is still so dangerous to seek out the Headshrinkers of the Amazon.
AKA: Search for the Amazon Headshrinkers
Welcome to a predator's paradise. Botswana's mysterious Savuti Channel. Where the prey is plentiful and the pickings are easy...but the banquet is crowded. Three groups abound in this predator battleground - the lion pride, hyena clan and wild dog pack - all using the dry riverbed as a hunting ground. While the dry season plagues the elephant and antelope herds, it makes for a predators delight.
But then when heavy rains come from Angola flooding the Savuti Channel for the first time in 25 years, crocodiles seize the channel as their own. Witness the resulting unique behaviour of predator and prey alike as the dry and the wet channel forces them to react in startling ways, all in an effort to survive on the Savuti Predator Battleground.
For over 100 years the Tudor dynasty ruled over England, and in that time they changed the face of the country. Featuring stunning aerial photography, this fascinating documentary gives us a unique vantage point to understand how this family imposed itself onto the very fabric of the land with battlefields, ruined monasteries, powerful castles and the beautiful symmetry of the era’s grand houses and palaces. Swooping above the landscapes and buildings behind some of Britain’s best-known events – places where Sir Francis Drake, Henry VIII, Shakespeare and Elizabeth I once walked – this beautifully shot programme explores history from a whole new angle.
We take a closer look at the Taj Mahal and revisit its history - why it was built and what meaning it possesses.
Scott O'Grady's F-16 Fighting Falcon is blown to smithereens over Bosnia. Lucky to be alive, he needs to outmaneuver Serbian ground forces who want one thing only - his head. In Afghanistan, a US Marine accidentally falls out a chopper door and into the arms of heavily armed Al Qaeda terrorists. And in Sierra Leone, British soldiers are captured and exploited as live bartering tools by a gang of drunken guerilla warriors. Will these fallen heroes suffer the ultimate sacrifice? Or can their brothers in arms, risking life and limb, rescue them in time?
Editor in chief Chris Johns takes a list of hundreds of exceptional photos and whittles it down to just 10. The program tells the stories behind those photographs and includes interviews with the dedicated, adventurous photographers who get the one in a million shot that makes it into the magazine.
Each of us was the grand prize in an ultimate reality competition, the amazing race a sperm makes on the road to fertilization. Millions of sperm compete while overcoming armies of antibodies, treacherous terrain and impossible odds to reach their single-minded goal. To illustrate the full weight of the challenge, Sizing Up Sperm uses real people to represent 250 million sperm on their marathon quest to be first to reach a single egg.
National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis travels deep into the rain forest to visit the Barasana people and witness a majestic and ancient ritual. The film will be Introduced by Dr. Davis, who will also participate in a discussion after the screening with Dr. Martin von Hildebrand, an ethnologist featured in the film who has advocated in defense of the rights of the Barasana and other indigenous peoples of Amazonia.
National Geographic: Africa's Lost Eden: Gorongosa In the heart of Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, the waters of Lake Urema explode with the thrashing of a giant crocodile tail. Gorongosa was once known as the place where Noah left his ark: 1,500 square miles of lush floodplains in central Mozambique, packed with wild animals. All around, enormous buffalo, soaring fish eagles, and countless antelopes roam freely.
But on closer look, something strange is going on. Fifteen years of civil war has taken a heavy toll and many species have been almost completely wiped out. All the usual top predators and prey are virtually missing, except for one - giant crocodiles and thousands of them.
Discover what is being done to bring this African oasis back to its former glory, including perhaps the most ambitious restoration effort ever attempted, with elephants, hippos and scores of zebra, wildebeest, impala and buffalo, being relocated into the park.
What if the Maya were right about the end of humanity as we know it? Would fire pour from the sky, buildings shatter, floods destroy Washington DC and Los Angeles slide into the Pacific? That’s how Hollywood has interpreted the end of the Maya great calendar cycle on December 21, 2012, in the movie “2012” with John Cusack.
This documentary looks for the truth behind the compelling myth - is there evidence of global upheaval on a massive scale? We follow scientist Adam Maloof to three continents on a detective story that spans eons, with clues embedded in the oldest rocks on the planet.
Ex "Sweeney" and "Bill" star Chris Ellison (aka the notorious D.I. Burnside) hosts this intriguing, hilarious and sometimes harrowing look at what life was really like for police men and women through the decades. Hear their amazing and never-before-heard stories about life on the beat on British streets.
Melting ice, rising seas - a huge tsunami wave heads for the coast. These are not headlines from today; they are stories from our prehistoric past. In Stone Age times, Northern Europe was a wonderful place to live where people pioneered a new, advanced, culture. But these were also times of frantic climate change when the seas were rising; drowning the land. See the story of a lost world in Stone Age Atlantis.
Stretching for thousands of kilometres across the desert terrain of southern Peru is one of mankind’s greatest mysteries: immense lines – carved as animals, humans and geometric shapes. While popular theories about the use of the Nasca lines have ranged from ancient race tracks to astronomical calendars and even alien landing strips, new scientific insight – and the unearthing of a headless body – may be the keys to finally unlocking the mystery.
Join contemporary scholars as they investigate the huge geometric markings made by the Nasca people 2,000 years ago on Peru's dry pampa.
AKA: Nasca Lines: The Buried Secrets
Relive the heroics of the crew of US container ship Maersk Alabama, who fought off an attempted hijack by Somali pirates in April 2009.
It's one of America's biggest environmental disasters and the largest oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico since 1979. As experts scramble to stop the leak, find out what happened to the oil rig Deepwater Horizon as a blowout tore it apart, killing 11 of 126 men on board and sending oil toward Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coastlines. The special contains never-before-seen footage obtained from the U.S. Coast Guard, NGC's production crew and emergency response crews of the aftermath.
Divers discover the wreck of an ancient Arab dhow off the coast of Singapore. The wreck gives maritime archaeologist Tom Vosmer a shot at a dream: to build and sail a unique replica. The quest leads Vosmer’s team deep into rainforests and deserts on a mission to unlock the secrets of a lost technology. But as the deadline for launch approaches, the project pushes the team to the limits of endurance; and brings the dhow to the brink of last-minute disaster-
AKA Arab Treasure Ship
AKA In Search of Sinbad's Secrets
Against the dramatic backdrop of riverine forests and wildlife-rich floodplains of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, Swamp Troop takes us into the heart of baboon society. We meet Boro, the troop’s alpha male, who brutally dispatches rivals, and jealously guards mating rights with fertile females. In a land where baboons must swim to survive, winter floods bring peril. A dangerous stranger threatens Boro and his two surviving infants. Tragedy strikes when Boro is toppled and disease claims the life of one of the infants. Without progeny, Boro’s reign as alpha is meaningless, he must do what he can to protect his remaining daughter.
AKA: Swamp of the Baboons
Meet Tatiana and Krista Hogan, a set of two-year-old twins conjoined at the head. Like most conjoined twins, they share bone, veins and arteries, and in this sense, they share a brain. But their mother believes that because they share a thalamus, each girl can actually see and feel what the other is doing. Cameras follow these little medical marvels to get an intimate look into their lives. Watch the Hogan family attempt to live as normal a life as possible.
Some of the world’s best cave divers have travelled to the Bahamas Islands to plunge into the unique abyss found in blue holes – underwater caves that can go hundreds or even thousands of feet down and feature a maze of passages and tunnels, which act as liquid time capsules.
Led by National Geographic emerging explorer and anthropologist Kenny Broad, the team of divers and archaeologists investigate these caves to unlock the mysteries of an ancient Bahamas teeming with life that quickly vanished, leaving the islands now mostly barren. What caused these animals to disappear, and could 800-year-old human skulls provide the answer?
Cave-ins, poisonous gasses and potentially deadly effects from pressure of venturing too deep, cave diving is a dangerous sport – a lesson the team learns firsthand after encountering the remains of a diver wearing a 1970s wet suit and flashlight whose visit to one blue hole proved to be his last.
The devastating eruption of Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull in mid-April brought mass disruption to skies over Europe, shutting down European airspace and stranding hundreds of thousands of air passengers around the world.
As news crews frantically monitored the ash cloud's progress and reported on the repatriation of tourists and business travellers, a National Geographic Channel film crew was on the ground in Iceland. They witnessed and captured dramatic events unfolding at the scene before, during and after the two eruptions. This exclusive footage will appear in Volcanic Ash Chaos: Inside the Eruption.
See never-seen-before footage and experience the dangers faced by the crew as they filmed from the glacier next to the enormous crater spewing fire and ash, with gigantic sonic booms rocking them to the core every 10 minutes. Being trapped in a flood and having to drive into enormous walls of dense ash cloud that affected the team's breathing, are just some of the other challenges encountered during filming.
This timely programme features other dramatic events
including Coast Guard rescue flights and exclusive eyewitness accounts from the scene. Also see renowned geologists collecting vital data from lava and ash, as well as explaining the science behind the volcano chaos and its global impact, including the disruption in air travel - the biggest since 9/11.
The Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" put India's largest slum, Dharavi, on the map. Much more than a slum, this mini-city bustles with industry, culture and dreams See the day-to-day activities and hear real-life accounts from its inhabitants, who have goals and aspirations -- people who are struggling to survive in a community that defies expectation
The treasures of the ancient pharaohs were legendary, but the tomb of the little-known Psusennes I stunned even the most experienced of Egyptologists. Untouched by grave robbers when it was unearthed in 1940, this discovery was overshadowed by the outbreak of World War II. The tomb contained a solid silver casket and riches that rivalled even those of the much-more famous Tutankhamen. But, with little known about his life, how did Psusennes generate such a mass of power and influence? Find out in this one-off special as leading historians reveal the truth about the king, who reigned around 3,000 years ago. Using his position as both pharaoh and a high priest to generate wealth, explore his ambitious scheme to relocate an entire city.
A first in the history of space exploration, recently scientists spotted and tracked an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. About the size of a truck, the asteroid slammed into the Nubian Desert in Sudan, and landed in nearly the exact location and only a few seconds from the time scientists had predicted. In Asteroid That Hit Earth, premiering on Friday 23 July at 9pm, join NASA experts and researchers as they examine the remnants of the asteroid to unlock the clues to help us prevent or simply survive future asteroid impacts.
They wear diapers and ride in strollers, but they're not babies -- they are "monkids." NGC goes inside the controversy of adopting monkeys as surrogate babies. Many question whether this is animal cruelty or even a danger to the owners. Others are fiercely devoted to these primates they see as part of the family. See just how far these wild monkeys have come from their treetop habitat as we explore this growing phenomenon.
If humans were as varied as dogs we would range in height up to 22 feet tall and in weight more than 1,000 pounds. In the ultimate canine ancestral story, NGC traces the genetic journey from wolf to dog, taking viewers back 100,000 years to meet the "mother of all dogs." It's no accident that dogs evolved this way, as humans have been selectively breeding them for around 14,000 years to serve our needs as laborer, companion, hunter, herder and warrior, as well as to suit our aesthetic fancy.
They tower over some of the most tranquil countryside in rural China. They're giant, man-made mountains that hold the keys to a violent history scarcely imaginable in such peaceful surroundings. These are the ancient pyramids of a bygone era characterised by battles and bloodshed, as warring kingdoms wrangled with each other in a power struggle spanning generations.
Today, these huge structures present historians with some of the world's most fascinating and well-preserved examples of ancient tombs. Deep within the pyramids lie the mummies of early China's most important generals, emperors, lords and ladies; people for whom size definitely mattered, with the scale of their final resting place mirroring the magnitude of their status.
Giuliani's 9/11 reveals how one man, confronted by a city on its knees, stood strong in the face of the life-or-death challenges he never dreamt he would encounter. The mayor describes his urgent efforts to establish a safe command post for the city's leadership team; protect sites like the Statue of Liberty, bridges and subways; marshal doctors and nurses; and conduct a press conference to let people know city leadership was intact and working to protect them.
The Bombing of Germany explores the role bombing played in the course of the Second World War. Discover in detail how the British and American bombing campaigns against Germany were carried out and what they were designed to achieve. In this programme see interviews with veterans, historians, and ethicists from countries engaged in WWII as this film recounts the story of the British and American bombing campaigns against Germany.
Alien life forms lurk in our oceans, yet more than 95 percent of their depths remain unexplored. In this documentary, we journey toward the ocean floor, where eternal darkness prevails. Oceanographers search for creatures that thrive in extreme conditions scientists once believed too toxic to support any life. Photorealistic animation brings to life primitive creatures such as the armored Dunkleosteus, a shark-devouring beast.
Harrowing personal stories of 9/11, including testimonies from ordinary people caught up in the tragedy and those in power trying to prevent it.
If you think debtors today have a hard time, go back 300 years with Piers Hernu to London's Fleet Prison.
Greed and fraud leads to one of the biggest financial meltdowns ever. Thousands of investors lose everything. Sound familiar? Except this was nearly 300 years ago and the losers are thrown not just into debt, but into one of the most brutal prisons of all time.
Who better to investigate than former city boy turned gold smuggler Piers Hernu. He found himself sharing a crowded cell in Nepal. But that was a picnic compared to the hell of London's notorious Fleet prison. Toffs and commoners alike were banged up under the brutal regime of governor Thomas Bambridge. Georgian society was horrified to discover the torture, cruelty and death that took place behind the walls of Fleet Prison, conveniently located on the edge of the City Of London.
In the year 2210, scientists uncover the ruins of a great civilisation – so powerful one could argue it dwarfed anything that came before it. Sifting through the wreckage of cities overtaken by the desert and swallowed up by the sea, they piece together a remarkable story of collapse – the story of what on Earth happened to us.
AKA: Doomsday 2210 (UK)
Collapse: Based on the Book by Jared Diamond
Catch a glimpse of presidential life from behind the camera in this intimate and exclusive film. As an inspiration to millions worldwide, President Obama is already a modern-day icon. Meet the man behind the images, as this extraordinary show offers a snapshot of the President's life as you've never seen him before.
Working out of the West Wing, office photographer Pete Souza is tasked with creating the official photographic archive of Obama's time in Office, granting him unprecedented access to the President as he goes about his work in the White House and beyond.
From official state engagements to light-hearted family moments, this program features a series of Souza's best shots, as well as capturing the unique relationship he shares with the President - a relationship which allows him to shoot Obama off-guard. Whether travelling on Air Force One or hanging out with family dog Bo, Souza never leaves his boss's side, making this a truly comprehensive portrait of the most influential man on the planet.
Five hundred years ago, the last great pyramid-building civilization descended into a world of unimaginable horror. What drove them to extremes of human sacrifice?
Why does it have a unique red afterglow? How did it come to be the shape it is today? And why is it believed by so many to be cursed?
Since its discovery centuries ago in the diamond mines of India, the Hope Diamond has travelled across three continents and into the hands of a most extraordinary cast of characters, from flamboyant royals to opportune thieves and eccentric millionaires. Allegedly a curse to those who own it, the diamond has inspired centuries of superstition and passion. Today, this deep blue, forty-five carat gem is one of the great attractions of the Smithsonian Institution in America.
In this programme witness a major scientific exploration into the huge gem's unique and mysterious structure. By combining high-tech scientific investigation with historical records, Curse of The Hope Diamond will tackle the most gripping questions around this mysterious diamond.
AKA: Secrets of the Hope Diamond
NGC goes inside one of the greatest natural marvels on the planet - a giant crystal cave described as Superman's fortress, with magnificent crystals up to 36 feet long and weighing 55 tons. A team of experts venture into the cavern, enduring scorching-hot temperatures that could kill a human after just 15 minutes of exposure. They'll push the boundaries of physical limitation to explore a crevasse that could lead to another - and perhaps more spectacular - crystal cave.
A behind the scenes look at Google today. From Google’s offices in China and Russia to the Googleplex (its Silicon Valley headquarters), uncover why this company’s corporate philosophy and attitude is so unique among major companies today.
Inside the Milky Way takes viewers on an astounding journey across 100,000 light-years to witness key moments in the history of the Milky Way. Using the latest science, NGC constructs a 3-D state-of-the-art CGI model of our galaxy. We'll peer into the heart of the Milky Way on the hunt for super-massive black holes, watch how stars are born and die, fly out and above the plane of our galaxy to understand its true shape and scour its dusty spiral arms for the possibility of life.
AKA Journey through the Milky Way
His attempt to blow up Parliament has seen Guy Fawkes go down in infamy, but the attempted coup was about much more than just one man. Hatched by a group of 13 conspirators, the 1605 plot came after decades of simmering religious tension in England. Fed by an atmosphere of fear and alienation, a group of disaffected young Catholics decided to assassinate King James I and the entire political establishment. Having smuggled of explosives into a cellar beneath the building, the plotters came within hours of the total destruction of the Houses of Parliament and the complete rewriting of history. Now with the help of CGI to recreate early 17th-century London, see how much damage would have been caused by the explosion, while dramatic reconstructions uncover the men behind the plan and explore what drove them to radicalism. This is the true story behind this historic act of treason.
In an age when online dating and reality TV abound, Amish romance looks anything but modern. Three couples - two Amish and one ex-Amish - share the traditions underlying courtship, engagement and marriage in Amish culture. From Rumspringa, the once-in-a-lifetime experience of a world outside the fold, to an intensive 18-week period of church evaluation that would test any couple's commitment, NGC cameras capture the details as the community prepares for the highly anticipated weddings.
In a planet full of conflict, America faces challenges like never before. Inside the Department of State follows US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her team of top advisors into some the most embattled regions of the planet. Travel behind the scenes on some of Clintons most crucial overseas missions to date: including trips to Pakistan, Israel, Egypt and Afghanistan. Each mission sheds new light on the machinery & strategy of American diplomacy.
Historians and archaeologists head to a supposedly cursed mountain in south-west Ethiopia, where decades before an English adventurer claimed to have discovered the gold mines of alleged king of Israel, King Solomon.
Explore the history of the rebel liquor that sparked a war between bootleggers and the law during prohibition and launched NASCAR as a nationwide sensation. NGC travels to Appalachia to uncover the secrets of this unlawful liquor
For the first time ever, see the full magnificent hoard of Saxon treasure unearthed in Staffordshire in 2009. What does it reveal about our past?
With temperatures ranging from 1000 to 2000°C, gravity 15 times stronger than Earth's, and a year that lasts just 5.6 of our days, HAT-P-2b is not a planet you'd want to visit for vacation.
In 2009, a team of British cavers investigated a recently uncovered cave in a remote Vietnamese jungle. The Son Doong cave is enormous; can it be larger than the current world-record holder? The explorers traveled for miles through the cave before hitting a 46-foot-high wall. Now, follow the team as they return to Son Doong to finish exploring the cave and climb the wall. Will Son Doong prove to be the worlds biggest cave? And what secrets are undiscovered inside this unique ecosystem?
After assassinating President Abraham Lincoln, the famous stage actor John Wilkes Booth, a confederate sympathizer, eludes thousands in one of the largest manhunts in U.S. history.
Of all the archaeological sites in Egypt that may still yield ancient treasure, perhaps the richest is the Nile River. Enormous boats navigated the river’s perilous waters loaded with monumental items, obelisks and riches for the pharaoh’s royal temples. The question remains … what lost treasures could modern technology reveal at the bottom of the Nile? In this program we join the archaeological search to locate and extract these lost artifacts that could unlock some of the mysteries of Egyptian history. What lost treasures could modern technology reveal at the bottom of the Nile? A team of archaeologists hopes to locate lost artifacts that could unlock some of the mysteries of Ancient Egypt.
In a land reduced to sand and water, every day is a struggle for survival. But one creature has conquered these two elements: crocodiles have learned to thrive. Life takes place within a strict hierarchy, and rank must be respected above all else. There's only place for one at the top of the pile. His name is Croc Boss; challenge his authority and the consequences can be devastating.
As the 44th president's chief photographer, Pete Souza is never far behind President Obama. Now in the National Geographic Special, The President's Photographer: 50 Years in the Oval Office, viewers can follow Souza, and those who came before him, for a behind-the-scenes look at the everyday grit of the American presidency. Offering a chance to see what it's like to cover the most powerful man in the world, for history. The presidential photographer's job is two-fold: one, taking photographs of the president greeting dignitaries, visitors and guests; and two, perhaps more challenging and gratifying: documenting for history every possible aspect of the presidency, both official events, backstage happenings and "off-duty" private moments. "Creating a good photographic archive for history is the most important part of my job, creating this archive that will live on," says Souza. "This is not so much photojournalism as photo-history." Souza and his staff produce up to 20,000 pictures a wee
Oceanographers have been gripped by a new spirit of discovery and have undertaken the biggest population census of ocean species ever conducted a Census of Marine Life. The quest: to find out when and where it all began. Where did the water come from? How was life created in the oceans? And how did it evolve to the enormous diversity we see today? Join National Geographic as we travel more than 4 billion years into the past to uncover how oceans and marine life came to exist.
In southern Peru lies one of mankind's greatest mysteries - 1000's of giant shapes etched into the desert sands. We reveal who made them and why. Etched, as if by giants, onto the arid moonscape of Peru's southern desert lies one of man's greatest mysteries; the Nasca Lines. More than 15,000 geometric and animal-like patterns have been discovered criss-crossing the pampas like a vast puzzle. Who built them and what was their purpose? Ancient racetracks, landing strips for aliens, or perhaps a giant astronomical calendar? And are the Lines connected to the gruesome discovery of large cache's of severed human heads. Now, after decades of misunderstanding, modern archaeology may finally have the answer. Excavations in the surrounding mountains are uncovering extraordinary clues about the people who made them and why. A long since vanished people, called the Nasca, flourished here between 200BC and 700AD. But the harsh environment led them to extreme measures in order to survive. Archaeolo
In an extraordinary discovery that made front page headlines around the world, scientists uncovered evidence of a race of "hobbit-sized" prehistoric species on a remote Indonesian island. A full-grown adult would have been as tall as an average four-year old child today. Researchers believe this ancient race lived at the same time as modern humans, sharing the earth for at least 80,000 years. National Geographic delivers the world's first in-depth documentary of this groundbreaking find.
Two hour special celebrating the first 25 years of National Geographic's Explorer series.
Almost 70 years after its sinking, the powerful headlights of two high-tech research submersibles illuminate the silhouette of the biggest German battleship ever. The pride of the German Kriegsmarine: Bismarck. In 1941 the Bismarck was sent out to raid and destroy allied supply convoys in the North Atlantic. With resources vital to their nation under threat, the British fleet went after this supposedly unsinkable ship. But who actually sank the steel giant?
This high-end, CGI-intensive documentary retraces the first and final voyage of Hitler's dreaded weapon: the Bismarck. The Bismarck was a German battleship and one of the most famous warships of the Second World War. The lead ship of her class, named after the 19th century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Bismarck displaced more than 50,000 tonnes fully loaded and was the largest warship then commissioned.
This documentary is telling the story with the last survivors and visits the mangled wreck after sixty years.
